Get A Sneak Peek At Haverford’s Rec Center Before Grand Opening

The Haverford-Havertown Patch was given a preview tour of the on Wednesday before its grand opening to the .

The 35,000-square foot facility, which is officially named the , will host a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the public at the Haverford Reserve at 7 p.m., Thursday night. Please see the attached PDFs for additional information.

Andrew Brady, Haverford Township Recreation Department’s program coordinator, explained that the center was designed purposely to give people the feeling that they are outside. From the floor, which looks like rock, to the wood décor to its spacious windows that overlook the reserve, Brady said the center was designed “to bring the outside in.”

“The idea is to give an outside feel,” Brady said in the huge lobby with various tables and chairs.

The lobby, with its wooden ceiling, may serve non-alcoholic drinks if it becomes popular, explained Brady.

The facility is program driven, meaning that individuals, groups, schools or parents can sign up for its numerous programs, such as its sports, wellness and educational classes, Brady said, adding that the center will also have free wifi Internet connection.

Staying In Shape 

The center offers a double gymnasium that can be split up to four ways by partitions. Circling above the gymnasium is a where nine laps is a mile.

Down at the lower floor is an exercise room where much of the workout machines are designed to help those with special needs or injuries. For example, the rowing machine’s seat is designed to swivel to the side for easy access.

In the studio next door is where adults and children can do yoga and eventually spinning classes will take place.

Educating The Public 

The facility offers much more than just a place to workout and to partake in sporting programs, explained Brady. It is designed to educate children and adults alike. 

Further pass the workout area is the environmental lab, where schools or groups can either rent the lab or sign up for one of the many educational programs. It is furnished with lab tables and also offers extra overhead electrical outlets for equipment. 

Right next to it is the outdoor classroom, where screened-in windows offer students all the joys of the sights, feel and sounds of the outdoors without the bugs and rain. The outdoor classroom is located right outside of the environmental lab and underneath the deck.

Behind the environmental lab is the mudroom, where students coming from the Haverford Reserve’s trails can place their rocks, for example, in the big sink to be washed and they can leave their muddy shoes in the room before taking their specimens into the environmental lab to be studied. 

The mudroom’s floor is designed to be hosed down to clean up the explorers’ muddy footprints.

But education also takes place in the heating and cooling system, said Brady. The geothermal system to cool and heat the center uses 40 wells that are 400 feet down below the parking lot of the center. The system takes water from the wells and uses it to cool and heat the facility.  The system lowers the costs to heat and cool the center by 40 percent, explained Brady.

Instead of the system being in a garage, it is near the gymnasium encased in a glass wall as an educational tool, Brady said.

The center also has activity rooms for adult and children classes. 

Renting The Center

People can rent a huge conference room that can be split into small sections by portable walls for parties or business meetings. The outdoor deck, which overlooks the trails and a garden that will eventually bloom, can also be rented as well.

For parties, the kitchen can be rented as well and people can use the stove and refrigerator. While not used for parties, the kitchen will also be used for cooking classes, stated Brady.

The Need For the Center and The Costs

When asked why the township needs a recreation center when a new  $22.5 million-Haverford Area YMCA is being built, Brady responded by saying that the center is much more than just a gym. It will offer wellness and educational programs, such as those listed in the PDF attachments that he sent to Patch, that the YMCA does not offer.

“The goal of the YMCA is to serve its members and we are serving the community,” Brady said.

“The total cost was (for the center) $8.7 million which includes furniture architecture costs etc.,” Brady stated in an email later on Wednesday. “We received $1.5 million in state economic development grants and $300k from the state for the Geothermal system.”

The operational costs of the building will cost the township “somewhere between 50-80,000 dollars a year,” Brady wrote.

Tim Denny, assistant township manager and head of the recreational department, , “Not only is this a beautiful LEED certified green building that was funded without using township tax dollars and will serve the community for years to come, but it represents the culmination of 14 years of following through on what the residents said they wanted done with this property.”